Number: 224 Specialty: Genjutsu
by FrozenFlamingFire
Summary: A group of nameless mercenaries ready to serve whoever will pay them. Trained from birth to disregard emotion, since they could walk how to kill. With a bloodline limit that causes them to feel no pain they are the perfect ninja. They live within the shadows to serve their master but, one must wonder, are they truly living?
1. Prologue

I planned to start rewriting this sooner but never got around to it. Anyways I'm back and I'm not promising regular updates until I know I can commit. I'll start on my other stories when I can handle it.

I don't own any Naruto characters, and that stuff, 'cept for my OC village. :)

* * *

The two girls fought hand to hand, not a single emotion crossing their faces. The two were even, neither gaining an advantage for a while when sudden the brown-haired one kicked it up several notches, before the other could recover she knocked her out with a quick blow from no where.

The brown-haired girl steps back from her crumpled opponent, noting dimly that the genjutsu had stopped draining her chakra and that her opponent was truly unconcious.

"Winner #224."

She turns to face the black-haired jonin, "Are there any more?" Her voice was flat, as expressionless as her face.

"No more genin."

"Meaning?"

"You beat the other contestants so easily we thought to set you up against two chuunin." The two chuunin move into the circle as he says that. One was a head taller than the other but both had short brown hair and blank brown eyes.

#224 settles into a fighting position, one open hand against her hip, the other fist in front.

"Go."

The shorter one ran towards her and she carefully sidestepped him, inserting a seed of Genjutsu that she could use later. While she's distracted the taller one punches her in the chest, knocking her back a few steps. She blocks the next few before ducking under one and throwing him over her shoulder, implanting a Genjutsu seed in him as well.

She turns her head to catch a punch in the face and jumps back to stem the flow of blood form her nose. The short one helps the other up and they face her. She runs between them, pushing them away from each other and activating the genjutsu in the same second.

The two blink and throw themselves at each other, both thinking that the other was the girl. She sits down and feels the slow drain of chakra from the genjutsus. Pinching the bridge of her nose she watches the two wrestle for a little while longer until the taller one is knocked out. She feels one genjutsu drain cut off abruptly and the other one waver. She rises quickly and hits the other boy on the side of the head.

"Winner #224."

"Have I earned the rank of chuunin yet?"

A different male voice responds, "Yes, you earned it a while ago."

"Kage-sama." In unison the two drop to one knee, heads bowed in respect.

"Rise." The man waits for the two to do so before he continues, "That final fight was to see if you were ready for your first mission."

He hands her a scroll and she opens it, unraveling it to read as he says, "Infiltration mission, requires you to take an acting course before you go."

She nods and takes off at a light jog.

The two men watch her, the jonin comments, "She'll make a fine ninja."

* * *

The next morning sees many young children training under the sharp eyes of their instructors.

#224 stands before an woman nearing her 50's and repeats what she said in question, "Emotion?"

The woman nods, "I'll be showing you how to imitate a variety of emotions from joy to sorrow to anger and everything in between."

* * *

The woman's teaching lasted all day and the next as well. By the time it was over #224 wondered why anyone would bother with these 'emotions', there were too many to count and just as confusing.

She lay awake pondering this as she sat on her bed, the top half of a bunk bed in a long room with a dozen other girls, some of whom were out on missions. She unconsciously folds the piece of paper into a butterfly and sets it beside many other paper figures. Finally drops from her bed and slips into the hallway, quietly so as not to disturb any of the other girls.

She grabs a ready made bag for her mission and a thin dark grey jacket to cover her bright blue and red shirt and match her pants. She carefully ties a forehead protector on, letting her bangs fall to cover the metal. The brown fabric blending into her hair perfectly.

She heads for the gates and stops at them. Not bothering to turn to the gate guard she says, "#224, specialty genjustu, signing out."

* * *

Short chapter but I plan to upload another quickly. Peace.


	2. Kind of a Prologue, Maybe?

Yay second chapter! It's still kinda of a prologue, I think.. I don't know. Go me. :)

* * *

_Your mission is to infiltrate a civilian village in order to facilitate take over for our client. The village is in the Land of Waves, the closest shinobi village being the Village Hidden in the Leaves. Your name for this mission will be Kaosu._

#224-Kaosu, she reminds herself- goes over the basic information for her mission. She walks through the light, early morning mist towards the client's hideout. She hears a chuckle behind her and glances over her shoulder.

A tall man moves through the mist easily with the grace of a dancer, or a ninja. Kaosu turns fully to face the man noting a sword handle with in easy reach and a second figure beside him.

The tall one growls as the mist lightens allows Kaosu to see more details of the two figures, "You're out early little girl." The words seemed slightly muffled.

The second figure walks faster revealing female features while the other stops. She kneels in front of her, "What's your name?"

"Kaosu" she replies crisply.

The woman moves her bangs aside to look at her forehead protector. Satisfied she stands and says to her partner, "She's the shinobi we're supposed to find and bring back for briefing."

"Really?" He finally moves closer revealing his face, the bottom half covered with bandages, explaining why his words seemed slightly muffled. "She's too young and scrawny, how old are you?"

"Six." She says impatiently, "Can we leave? I'd like to meet my client and receive more mission details."

The tall one chuckles again and starts walking in the same direction she was originally heading. The two girls quickly start after him. The girl coughs as if to say something and Kaosu turns her head to show interest. "Two things, 1. My name is Haku, his name is Zabuza."

"And second?" Kaosu prompts curiously.

"I'm actually a boy."

* * *

Kaosu stands in front of a desk behind which sat a short man in a nice suit.

"So you're the ninja I hired? Impossible." He snorts in disbelief and leans back in his chair

"My name is Kaosu from Chirigakure, age 6, chuunin." She snaps, annoyed.

"Fine I guess you are the ninja I hired." He shrugs.

"I would appreciate some more details about my mission, you didn't include very many on the scroll."

He rolls his eyes and starts talking slowly, over enunciating as if to a child, "Your mission is to infiltrate the village over there." He points behind him in the direction of the water. "Do your fancy water walking thing for a bit, you can't miss it. Once you've successfully infiltrated you'll relay information regarding any rebels once I take over, got it?"

She grits her teeth and nods, not trusting herself to speak.

"Good now get out."

She turns and walks out the door, twitching in controlled annoyance.

"Enjoy your talk with Gato?"

She turns to the door guard and shakes her head, "Not in the slightest."

He grins, "Big words for such a small girl, don't worry none of us really like him, we just like his money enough to keep coming."

She nods and takes her leave. Walking across the water she watches the sun rise and disperse the last of the morning mist. Hurrying so that no one would see her, she makes her way to the island. Once there she hunches over and tries to seem as harmless and pitiful as she moves through the crowd. Despite that she can't help but look up every now and then. The village was alive with sights, sounds and smell. For a small town it seemed to be prospering, now she had to find a charitable house to stay in.

* * *

Easier said than done, she stood at the door of the third hopeful door and knocked. Thankfully the last two households had been polite, even in their rejection however, the sun was setting and the wind started to take on a slightly sharper bite.

She shifts from foot to foot as she waits for someone to open the door, surely it didn't take this long for someone to answer the door, right?

She turns to walk away when the door cracks open and a gentle voice asks, "Who are you?"

She stutters, adopting the persona of a small child, "K-Kaosu, just w-wondering if I-I c-could rest here for the n-night."

She catches a glimpse of a kind face before it disappears, "Wait just a moment child."

He, the voice and face were masculine, retreats inside and Kaosu strains to hear him but fails. Reduced once again to waiting she shifts from foot to foot. It was interesting how her age worked for her in this situation, a couple of years older she would be turned out immediately instead of considered and once she was planted no one would suspect her. She turns once again to leave but he returns once again this time opening the door fully and allowing the light to spill from the doorway.

"Come in, my wife wants to take a good look at you." He smiles and leads her inside.

She follows nervously and takes quick glances at her surroundings noting the cleanliness and the warmth seemingly radiating from the walls.

* * *

Kaiza watches the young girl as she shifts the pack on her back and glances around. _She's younger than Inari,_ he muses, _I wonder what she's doing, turning up on our doorstep._

He carefully leads the girl to the sitting room where his wife, father-in-law and son-in-law sit. "Here she is." He pushes her forwards slightly and smiles softly when she stumbles before straightening.

The three look her up and down and she finds a sudden interest in her shoes as she waits for their decision.

"I don't know..." Tazuna begins, glancing towards his daughter who shrugs and in turn looks to Inari who continues to gaze at the girl.

Kaosu looks through her bangs and meets Irari's eyes a flash of sympathy flies across them and he grins, "Do you want to play?" He asks happily.

She nods cautiously and he smiles standing and taking her hand to lead her to his room, "I'm gonna teach you how to play this game and..." the voice becomes muffled as the sound of a door closing is heard.

The three left in the room look at each other. Tazuna breaks the silence, "Are you sure that was smart? Where did she come from?"

Kaiza shrugs, "Inari seems happy" he points out, "he doesn't play with many of the kids his age anymore."

Tazuna snorts, "Not after that incident."

Silence reigns again before Tsunami stands, "I think it's a good idea. I'll go prepare a snack for the two."

She leaves the two men who lock eyes and shrug simultaneously as though to say, _guess that's that._

* * *

Kaosu fit in well with the family, playing with Inari, joking with Kaiza and conversing with Tazuna. Every night after supper she voiced a desire to move on but every time Inari and Tsunami would insist that she stay for one more day, eventually Kaiza and Tazuna also joined in until Kaosu asked if she would ever leave to which they all replied, "Nope."

And that was that._  
_

* * *

Team 7 will show up next chapter. I'd appreciate reviews regarding anything from spelling and grammar to storyline so don't be afraid to send one. Peace. :)


	3. Nicknames

Yay, go late updates ;) Late in my eyes at least.

* * *

Recap: Kaosu infiltrates the village and stays with Tsunami & Co.

* * *

Kaosu patiently teaches Inari how to make a paper butterfly. They were doing it to distract themselves, they would do anything do distract themselves.

Kaiza had been killed, publicly executed, a week ago and the defeat lay heavily over the village. Only a few could find the courage to build the bridge and it's progress had been slowed to a crawl. Kaosu had played her part in that, she reported the underground movement before it even started and the would be rebels would scatter.

A knock on the door startles the two children from their task. They glance at each other in vague hope, Tazuna was supposed to return with help today! The two rush to the front door and hide behind Tsunami as she opens the door.

First they see a bright splash of orange, looking up they notice a bright face, topped with vibrant yellow hair and a forehead protector- a ninja!

He grins down at them, "Hi there!"

Kaosu studies his face noting the whisker-like marks on his cheeks, _he reminds me of a fox.. "Foxy" it is!_

She smiles to herself as a growl comes from behind 'Foxy' "Move baka, Kakashi is heavy."

Foxy moves out of the way and Kaosu looks at what they are carrying. Upon noticing that it was a man she glances at his face only to find that most of it was covered by a mask, _Masky._

The line moves on and Kaosu immediately notices the boy's bored expression and his hair, _Duck Butt._

Finally the last of the strangers walks in, apart from her hair Kaosu notices nothing remarkable and settled for calling her, _Pinky._

Kaosu embraces Tazuna as he crosses the threshold, quickly joined by Inari and Tsunami. He chuckles and pries all of them off of him, "We need to go make sure our guests are comfortable."

Tsunami nods and heads to the kitchen to prepare a snack for the group while Kaosu quickly heads to the room they had set aside for company. She walks in to find them setting out their stuff, Masky was already on his bedroll.

Pinky already seems finished so she walks over to her and leans down so they're eye to eye, "Hey there! What's your name?" she asks in a slightly baby way.

_The one and only thing I hate about being a young child,_ however, she goes along with it and smiles, "I'm Kaosu, what's your name?"

"Well, I'm Sakura" she points to herself, unnecessarily, "Naruto" she points to Foxy who waves, "Sasuke" Duck Butt didn't even glance in their direction despite the adoring tone Pinky said his name in, "And Kakashi-sensei." Finally she gestures to Masky.

_I'll stick to my nick names thank you very much._

"Where are you guys from?"

Foxy answered that one, "Konohagakure."

"What's that?"

So the questionnaire began, by the time Tsunami called for dinner she had extracted a decent amount of information from the two, she wondered if a quarter of it would ever be useful.

Standing, the three had sat down in a small circle, Kaosu makes her way over to Masky. Carefully bending down she pokes him before quickly jumping back, out of range for any retaliation. She receives no reaction and she does it again. Foxy smiles at the small child's antics, Pinky sighs and shakes her head but doesn't move to stop her while Duck Butt calls from the doorway, _wait when did he get over there?_ "Are we going to eat supper or what?"

Kaosu swoops in for another poke when Masky speaks, "That's a good idea Sasuke, let's go eat."

She falls back and lands on her butt in surprise, quickly backing up as Masky's visible eye opens.

Foxy starts laughing outright at Kaosu's reaction and Pinky growls, "Shaddup!" as she hits him.

He groans and rubs his growing lump as Kaosu looks up at them with an expression of confusion, "Why did you just hit him?"

Pinky shrugs, "He was annoying me." Foxy replies over top, "I don't know!"

Duck Butt huffs, "I'm going to go sit down."

"Wait for me Sasuke-kuun!" Pinky latches onto Duck Butt and they disappear.

The expression melts from Kaosu's face as she asks, "If someone else is laughing you're supposed to hit them?"

Foxy laughs nervously, not noticing the lack of any emotion in the question, "No, please don't get that idea, Sakura-chan is one of a kind."

Masky's eye narrows slightly as he sits up and listens to the conversation.

Kaosu smiles devilishly, "Do you like Pinky?" she covers her mouth as she lets the nick name slip.

Foxy doesn't catch on, "Who?"

"I think she means Sakura."

Kaosu nods, her hands still over her mouth.

Foxy grins again, "Nicknames, hm? What's mine?"

She lifts her hands for the word "Foxy" to escape before putting them back.

The two boys wince, that hit a little too close to home for Naruto.

Masky distracts the other two, "What about mine and Sasuke's?"

Kaosu lets her hands drop after seeing that they really weren't angry or annoyed, "Yours is Masky and the other boy's is Duck Butt."

Foxy brows wrinkles in confusion again, "Why 'Duck Butt'?"

She grins and mimes his hairstyle above her head, "Have you ever noticed his hair?"

The corners of Masky's mouth twitch upwards but Naruto squints at her, "I still don't get it."

She sighs and lets her hands drop again, "Just take a good, long, hard look at his hair, okay?"

Tazuna calls for them, "Do you guys want food or not?"

The two kids jump up and rush to the table, leaving behind their crippled sensei who sighs and leans back, _a little more sleep won't kill me._

* * *

Go Kaosu and her nicknames, and Naruto and his denseness. :)

Don't be afraid to leave a review, you've gotten this far, go the extra 30 seconds! :D


	4. Dinner and Training

Hello! I'm late, what a surprise. :/

Anyways, enjoy!

* * *

Recap: Kaosu informally interrogates Naruto and Sakura. She also points out Sasuke's choice of hairstyle.

* * *

Kaosu slides into her place at the table and Tsunami sighs, "Careful Kaosu."

She smiles, "I know!"

Naruto comes in a second later and sits down between Sakura and Kaosu.

Tsunami looks at the ninja, "Is your sensei awake?"

Naruto nods and Tsunami leaves to give some supper to Kakashi.

After a moment Sasuke realizes he's being stared at by Naruto, "What do you want?"

Naruto appears thoughtful for a second, "Turn your head to the side for a second."

Grumbling Sasuke does so and Naruto bursts out laughing.

"What?" Sasuke glares at his teammate and the small girl who was trying to stifle her laughter.

Sakura growls as she prepares to defend her Sasuke-kun, "Naruto.." she readies a punch.

The laughter drains from Kaosu's face as she blocks the punch for Naruto. Shocked Sakura doesn't pull back and instead stares into Kaosu's eyes.

"Don't" Kaosu says calmly before sitting back down. The room was dead silent, all of them staring at the girl who surprises them again by smiling,"I'm hungry, can we eat?"

Tazuna nods as Tsunami returns and Naruto gets up from the floor. Supper was spent in silence except for the boys asking for more helpings of the soup Tsunami had prepared.

Finally Inari finishes and puts away his plate, "Why are you guys here anyways?" (Oh boy get ready for the small child angst...)

Naruto laughs, "What do you mean? We were hired to protect your grandfather, that's what we're going to do."

"You don't stand a chance against Gato!"

_Inari..._

"You'll just get yourselves killed!"

_INARI..._

"You should just go home!"

"INARI!" The words burst from Kaosu's mouth who immediately covers it with a look that suggests she is close to tears. Without another word or glance she quickly runs to her room, closing the door with a bit more force than necessary.

All of the members were shocked once again, Inari recovers first, "I'm going to my room."

No one stops him as he leaves.

"What was that all about?" They all turn to the doorway and there stands Kakashi, leaning heavily on the door frame. Quickly Naruto and Sakura jump up and help him to Kaosu's recently vacated spot.

"Well, I suppose you do have a right to know.." Tazuna quickly speaks about Kaiza, his role in Inari's and then Kaosu's life. Gato's swift takeover, Kaiza's public execution followed by the disappearance of anyone who really even spoke about an uprising. He finishes by saying that the bridge's construction was slowed to a crawl and that it was their only hope.

The leaf ninja sit and digest the information presented to them. "Okay" says the jonin, "I just have to say something and now is as good as ever."

The other look at him expectantly and he sighs, "Zabuza is probably still alive." (DUN DUN DUN!)

* * *

The dawn saw 5 people heading into a grove of trees. 4 of them were yawning hugely and the other was on crutches.

"Kakashi-sensei? Are you sure you should be training us, you still haven't fully recovered."

The jonin eye-smiles, "Please don't patronize me, I know what I'm doing."

The smallest one rubs an eye as she speaks, "Speaking of which, what are we doing?"

Sasuke huffs, "Why are you here?"

She shrugs, "I want to know what you're doing."

"If you're going to have any chance against a man who killed dozens of people before he was trained I need to train you." Kakashi says wearily.

The three genin groan, it was too early in the morning for them to understand anything from that sentence other than, 'training'.

Their sensei stops in a small clearing surrounded by straight, strong, tall trees, exactly what he was looking for. "Okay watch closely."

The children nod sleepily and Kakashi turns to walk towards one of the trees.

He easily channels the necessary chakra to his feet and walks up the tree trunk before going under one of the lower branches and tilting his head to look at the children who were staring up at him.

_He must be using chakra to stick to the tree._

_Pfft. I can do that._

_Child's play._

_Cool! If I do that I'll impress Sakura-chan for sure!_

"Do you know how I'm doing this?"

Sakura immediately launches into an explanation of chakra and it's uses. By the time she wraps up the two boys have already started running at their respective trees.

"Here" Kakashi hands a kunai to the girl, "Use it to mark your progress like the boys. You don't seem like you would need my help."

She nods and concentrates on her feet, moving chakra to them before running at the tree. She makes it about 3/4 of the way to the first branch on her first try, farther than either of the boys. With a small smile she adds a bit more chakra and tries again.

Kakashi looks up from his book to see Kaosu gazing wistfully at his students, "Do you want to try?"

With a start she nods and Kakashi motions for her to come closer. "First I'll need to check your chakra levels, you may not have enough to do this for very long and I don't want you hurting yourself."

Before she steps within arm's reach Kaosu quickly tries to repress some of her chakra. Feeling weakened she steps forwards and allows Kakashi to rest a hand on the middle of her seeing Kakashi's visible eye widen slightly she knows her ploy didn't work as well as she hoped.

This girl has almost as much chakra as Sasuke. It's not that much, but for a child of this age, and a civilian to boot...

He forces a smile, "Don't worry you've got plenty of chakra to do this exercise." He hands her a kunai, "You know what to do by watching them?" With a nod the girl walks across the clearing to a tree next to Naruto's. _Who are you?_ he silently questions the girl's back.

* * *

There, that feels like a good place to leave off. After such a long break from fanfiction I really shouldn't be taking another one, but next week I'm in Calgary for videogames with cousins. Oh I guess it's also Christmas so, yeah. I'll update if I can but don't feel bad if I don't. :)


	5. More training and kidnapping

Hah! I uploaded a chapter anyways- this one is almost twice as long as some as my others as well so, yay! Go me! Happy Christmas!

I really need a beta. If anyone of you have noticed my writing style is incredibly different, probably because I started out roleplaying, that's my excuse anyways. :)

* * *

Kaosu stands before a tree with her arms at her sides as she channels her chakra to her feet. She places her foot on the bark to see if she's got enough to stick to the tree yet.

"It works better if you've got a running start!"

She shakes her head, how are you supposed to know if you've got enough if you do that? With her first foot firmly planted she easily walks up the tree and sits on the second branch.

"Kaosu?" she glances at the speaker below her, a certain yellow haired genin. "How did you do that?"

She tilts her head to the side in a show of innocence, "I just focused my energy in my feet and walked up."

The blond smiles, "Got it!" and resumes his charge at the tree.

Sasuke glances up at the girl and growls, "Impossible." Sakura stares at her from her own tree branch thinking the same.

Kaosu suddenly becomes aware of the hostility and suspicion from two of the ninja._ I need to do something stupid and childish._ She tosses the unused kunai to the forest floor and stands up on her branch, wobbling with an exaggerated lack of balance.

"Careful!" the voices come from the ground and the tree next to her before she rights herself, "I'm fine!" she calls back. She turns around to face the trunk and walks backwards, carefully feeling for a place to put her foot before putting her weight on it.

She can sense 2 pairs of eyes watching and knew that the last two didn't care or were buried in their book. _Someone will catch me._

She allows her foot to slip and her lips part in a scream as she falls. Halfway down she feels strong arms wrap around her and gently slow her fall.

Kakashi lands in a crouch and allows the six year old to stand before he does so as well. _You did that on purpose._

Kaosu glances up and reads the statement in his eyes. _What will you do about it?_

The jonin blinks and turns from the girl as two of his students move towards her.

Naruto reaches her first, "What were you doing? You could have gotten really hurt!"

She stares at the ground and draws circles with her foot, "I'm sorry. I won't do it again."

Sakura stands beside Naruto, "You better not."

After a moment Naruto continues, "It's okay, good job on getting this down before us though, you're a really fast learner."

Kaosu keeps her eyes down until the two move back to their training and glances up at their sensei.

Kakashi glares at the girl, trying to figure out who she could be when she glances up. A mischievous look dances into her eyes and a small smile creeps onto her face. A moment later though all the emotion wipes from her face and she straightens, suddenly looking like a very young ANBU graduate.

Kakashi's eyes widen in response as understanding dawns on him, she was not civilian, she was a trained kunoichi. He shakes his head to rid himself of the thought, how could she? She was six, outside of war children don't start training until they're 8 or 9.

Kaosu smiles once satisfied her message had been received. A small part of her realizes that she had just blown her cover to the most powerful enemy force she could face on the mission. The rest of her however smiles mischievously.

* * *

Kaosu spent the rest of the morning on the ground, pretending that one fall was enough. After some time Sakura joined her when she got tired out. The two boys kept going at it, neither making a lot of progress, near lunchtime they didn't seem the least bit tired or willing to stop.

Upon hearing growling stomachs for the twentieth time Kaosu jumps up, "I'll go get you guys some lunch!"

She dashes off and once out of sight uses chakra to run faster. Reaching the house in about half the time it took to reach the training area.

Tsunami looks up as Kaosu walks in the kitchen, "Are the others coming?"

She shakes her head, "No they're still training. I told them I'd bring them some lunch."

Tsunami smiles, "Okay, just let me put something together."

A couple minutes later she was back out the door with a basket in her arms and a bite of sandwich in her mouth. The moment she nears the trees a figure steps out from behind one. Kaosu skids to a stop and hastily swallows her food as she recognizes him, "Haku! What're you doing?"

He smiles, "Oh, just checking up on you. Do you have a moment?"

Kaosu nods and sets down her basket, "Did you and Zabuza run into the leaf ninja?"

"Yeah, Zabuza was almost killed, I had to put him into a death-like state and pull him out."

"Really?"

"Yes, the boys are smarter than they look, they managed to outsmart Zabuza. Their sensei, Kakashi of the sharingan, took over from there."

"And the girl?" she asks curiously.

Surprisingly he laughs, "She useless, she just stood by Tazuna with a kunai."

"Okay, how long will it take for Zabuza to recover? The ninja are training right now."

"He'll be good in a week, they can't fit enough training in one week to beat Zabuza though.. Is there anything else you need me to take to Gato?"

She shakes her head, "Nah, everything's quiet."

He smiles and turns, "Okay, see you later." He melts into the trees and Kaosu waits a minute before continuing, at a normal running pace.

Finally she bursts into the clearing, "LUNCH!"

She passes out the food receiving smiles from Naruto and Sakura, a glare from Kakashi. Sasuke ignores her until Kakashi says, "Sasuke, you need to eat."

He scoffs but takes the food none-the-less, sitting down in the grass.

The five eat in silence, predictably the boys finish first and continue training.

The girls time their time and a few minutes later finish as well. They glance at each other and smile, "Who do you want Sakura?"

"I'll take Sasuke." she turns and runs to her crush and Kaosu mutters under her breath, "Good luck, you'll need it."

Kaosu makes her way over to Naruto who was sitting and rubbing his bumps and bruises. He smiles, "Hey Kaosu."

She smiles and crouches down, "Us girls are going to help you two so we can move on to something else."

"Really? I'd like the help."

She nods and stands helping him to his feet before starting. "Okay so- Wait! Get back here!" Naruto was backing way from the tree in order so get a good run at it.

He turns, "What? Kaka-sensei told us to get a good running start."

"Just, get back here."_ Seriously.._

He walks back and stands beside him, "I'm here."

"Okay, put your foot on the tree." She demonstrates for him.

"You sure?"

"Do it."

She waits for him before saying, "Now channel chakra to your foot until you feel it sticking."

"Got it."

"Fix the amount in your mind and channel the same amount to your other foot."

Kakashi looks up from his book to watch the girls help the boys. Sakura seemed to be slowly convincing Sasuke that he needed help, Naruto on the other hand was walking up the tree and had already made it past his highest mark. However as he watched Naruto lost focus and fell from the tree landing on his back and rolling. He sits up and rubs his new bruise, "Wow, that really worked!" Kaosu shakes her head, "No duh it worked, you just lost focus, do it again."

_How is that baka beating me at this?_ Sasuke ignores Sakura in favour of glaring at the blond.

"Sasuke?" She follows his gaze and sighs, _why does he always ignore me and pay attention to Naruto, makes me wonder sometimes.._

_CHA! He's not gay! Don't you even think about it!_

She sweat drops, _you're the one who brought it up._

She glances up at the tree, noting all the places where the bark was broken, _he's just using too much chakra._

Sakura nudges him and he turns his glare on her, "Sasuke try it again, but use less chakra."

He growls but gets up anyways and runs up again, carefully stepping around areas where the bark was broken and reaching the first branch. He quickly swings himself up onto it and looks around.

"Good job Sasuke!" His head swivels and glares at the blond who was grinning at him with his eyes closed.

"Good job boys, took you a while." The children turn to Kakashi, "Walk up and down the tree a few times so that you really have it down."

Kaosu heads over to Sakura and whispers, "Did you have fun?"

She blushes, "No- yes."

She smiles and pretends to ignore the red on Sakura's cheeks, "We should have helped them sooner. They wouldn't have figured it out for a while, not very smart.."

Sakura quickly turns on her, "No! Sasuke-kun's a genius!"

"Okay."

She blinks, obviously expecting an argument before walking away to gawk at Sasuke.

Kaosu grins and flops down where she stands, staring up at the sky.

* * *

About a half hour later the quintet leaves the clearing in search of a lake. Kaosu smiles, knowing the area and runs ahead, "Come on guys!"

She hears the others pick up the pace and enjoys the feeling of wind parting around her. Nearing the lake she turns and runs backwards beckoning to the ninja, "Hurry up guys!"

Naruto bursts from the brush first but skids to a stop, causing the others to bump into him and fall down, "What are you doing baka?"

His teammates stand and brush themselves off as Kakashi calmly emerges behind them. The others follow Naruto's gaze to Kaosu and their eyes widen in surprise as well.

She laughs nervously and takes another step back, "What's wrong guys?"

Kakashi is the first to recover and takes a few steps forwards to stand between her and his students, "Who are you?"

_What are they talking about? _She questions herself before realizing Kakashi stood on the edge of the lake, the water was lapping at his sandals. Her gaze flickers down and laughs nervously again taking a few more steps backwards. "Um, uh."

"Kaosu!" Naruto didn't care if she seemed to be leagues better than him, she was still a nice person. He starts to run to her but Kakashi holds him back, "No, we don't know the lints of her abilities."

"Uh- I can explain." Even as she speaks she continues backing up.

A figure within the cover of the treetops sighs, _this is getting awkward, let's pull you out of here. _He flicks his wrist and needles fly straight for Kaosu.

Kakashi starts forwards when Kaosu crumples and sinks below to surface of the water but Haku beats him to it, "So, sorry but I'll be taking her."

Naruto runs forwards, "Like hell!" Kakashi keeps moving but he was only half way.

Haku picks her up and turns, allowing them one last look at her face. It seemed that only her limbs were paralyzed, her eyes were wide with fear and she screams, "Help!"

Kakashi reaches them just after they disappear in a swirl of leaves. He turns to look at his students who were still standing on the shore with varying expressions of surprise on their faces and sighs, "Let's start training"

* * *

Anyways, Beta needed, or at the very least wanted. :)


	6. Complaints and more training ugh

Hihihi! I'm back! Yeah..

Don't know if this counts as Tuesday but as I write the ANs it's 12:27 am so.. yeah.

Anyways, guess who was no school for another week? I guess who will probably still slack off and not write chapters to this? (Me to both if you were wondering.)

I do have a semi legitimate reason for ignoring this fanfic for a couple weeks, AN below if you're curious but please read the chapter while you're here! :)

* * *

"What do you mean let's start training?" Naruto yells. Kaosu's terrified eyes at the forefront of his mind. He stands knee deep in water but doesn't seem to notice or care, "We need to go after them and save her!"

"No." Kakashii says calmly as he walks towards them, stopping to rub his temples, this was the longest C rank mission he had ever been on and it was far from over.

"Why? She was under our protection!"

Kakashi grabs Naruto's upper arm and hauls him none too gently back on shore while Sasuke huffs, "It was her fault for coming with us, if she had stayed behind this wouldn't have happened."

"Not necessarily Sasuke. By accompanying us she was surrounded by three genin and one jonin, she should have been safer."

"That's why we need to go save her! This shouldn't have happened!" Naruto shouts, he couldn't believe that she had been snatched from right under their noses.

"Naruto, calm down." Kakashi sighs, "We're not going to rescue her because: A, you need training, B, we don't know what we're going up against and I'm not charging into an enemy base with an inexperienced team of genin, and.." He trails off, wondering if it was worth mentioning his last thought.

"What Kakashi-sensei?" Sakura questions, she had remained quiet up until now.

_No, they wouldn't believe me if I told them a six year old 'civilian' is probably better than them and working against us.. and a girl._ (Nothing against Kunoichi!)

"Nothing." He says quickly, "Now as I was saying." He glances at Naruto who glares back, still POed that they weren't going to save Kaosu. "We- you guys need to train and master water walking."

Sasuke huffs, "Why are we doing this? We should be learning jutsus or something."

Kakashi sighs, "Somebody wasn't listening the first time, water walking has the same benefits of tree climbing, better chakra control, the ability to fight on more terrain, better chakra reserves."

"Fine, this shouldn't be too hard." Sasuke steps out onto the water and his uninterested eyes widen slightly as he realizes how different it was from tree climbing. After fighting to stay dry for a few moments he steps off and purposefully doesn't look at any of his teammates.

Sakura gazes wistfully at Sasuke as he nurses his wounded pride, "Kakashi-sensei? When the water flows under your feet don't you have to adjust the chakra in your feet accordingly?" "Kakashi-sensei?" she repeats when she receives no response.

The trio glance around to see their sensei already set up under a tree with his book, "Hm? Oh right, you need to adjust the chakra in your feet as the water flows underneath them, good luck."

The genin grumble about their sensei and his perverted ways, they had already figured out what that book was about, before getting into place on the shore a few feet apart and getting to work.

The genin work on that as their sensei sits in the shade under his tree. He stares at his book but couldn't seem to get into it like he normally would instead he was deeply immersed in his thoughts, who was that girl? If she was a kunoichi where was she from if they would train and send them out on solo missions so young? Was she travelling with Zabuza, working for Gato or working apart? Should he warn his students, possibly scare them for nothing? Would they believe him?

He sighs and firmly shuts the thoughts away, they could stew for a while, right now he wanted to read his book.

48 hours, 4 meals and a lot of coaching later the three genin had at the very least a decent hold on their water walking abilities.

Sakura had gotten to the point where it was almost instinctual, Sasuke still needed to concentrate a bit but he could easily spar and do other things on top of the water, Naruto needed to concentrate quite a bit because the moment he let his mind wander too far he would start wobbling.

The sun sets as the genin train, Sasuke goes through some basic drills on top of the water, Sakura sits on the shore and reads a book, having exhausted her chakra supply for the day, Naruto sits and gently bobs with the water as he focuses.

"Okay, let's head back and get some food and some rest." Their sensei's voice rings over the water and the children quickly obey.

The two boys huff as they get off the water and follow their sensei and teammate. Sakura quickly doubles back and latches onto Sasuke with an adoring expression, Sasuke makes no move to throw her off.

Kakashi waits for Naruto to catch up before walking at the brisk pace he set, "Any improvement?"

Naruto gazes ahead resolutely, he knew that he was holding back the group because his water walking was sub par and he didn't like it.

"Naruto?"

Naruto returns from his thoughts with a jolt and the realization that he had been scowling, the future Hokage, scowling! He quickly remedies that by grinning widely, "It's getting better, I just need more practice that's all!"

Kakashi blinks at his student's apparent mood swing but doesn't comment instead he smiles, "You may not catch on as quickly as your teammates but you're persistent, I like that."

Naruto laughs but it was tinged with hurt, "Is that an insult or a compliment?"

Kakashi is slightly taken aback, _although I can't really blame him, _he thinks with a sudden, growing realization,_ I may be his sensei but he's been mistreated so badly by the villagers it may take a while before he completely trusts me when I say I mean no harm. Also, _he reflects,_ his teammates aren't helping matters, Sakura is so obsessed with Sasuke and Sasuke with himself, most of the time they could probably care less about Naruto, the scapegoat, prankster, demon..._

Finally he eye smiles, "An observation."

Naruto mentally sighs in relief having dreaded his sensei's response after such a long pause. Some of the relief shows on his face and Kakashi winces slightly, _yeah, it'll take a while._

The quartet reach the house and head inside for some well deserved grub.

"Did she show up?" Tsunami was still holding out on a faint hope that Kaosu would miraculously appear while the ninja were out.

"No, she didn't." The raven snaps, he was tired of her asking them to perform miracles, they were only ninja, genin at that.

"Oh, okay." She responds as they join her family at the table and quickly sits down herself.

The food was simple, well made and a testimony to Gato's monopoly regarding the village.

After supper the genin busy themselves with getting ready bed and half and hour later they're all in bed, trying to sleep.

Sakura falls asleep quickly with nothing more than her unconditional love for Sasuke on her mind.

Sasuke broods for a while but soon follows his fangirl.

Among the genin Naruto has the most trouble falling asleep. He lies awake, staring at the ceiling. He grumbles something unintelligible and gets up, hoping a brief walk outside will put his racing mind to rest.

He quietly makes his way outside and sighs as the cool evening air caresses his body. With no destination in mind he starts walking. He smiles to himself, no one was around so he didn't have to pretend, his only companions were the full moon illuminating his path and his shadow, dancing behind him.

With a start he finds himself on the shore of the lake they using to practice. He stares at it pensively and for a moment and contemplates contemplating the meaning of life. He chuckles, _better leave that stuff to Shikamaru_ and focuses his chakra to his feet before walking onto the surface on the lake.

_It seems easier at night,_ he thinks. He was able to stand still and a large portion of his mind was free to wander.

"Naruto?" His head whips around and his hand immediately jumps up to soothe the sudden pain.

The figure was wearing dark clothing but the silver hair topping it was unmistakable, "Naruto, you should be in bed."

Naruto turns to fully face his sensei and shoves his hands into his pockets before remembering he was in his PJs- no pockets, instead he lets his hands hang at his sides. Slapping on his trademark grin he replies, "Couldn't sleep."

Kakashi disappears in a swirl of leaves and reappears behind Naruto.

The blond flinches away, expecting a harsh blow from him like from the many other chuunin, jonin, drunk men, men in general, People in general, he mentally shakes himself before he falls into a spiral of hurt and loneliness. Instead Kakashi gently grabs his arm and leads him back to the shore, "I'm not going to hurt you Naruto."

Naruto blinks at the gentle tone his sensei had used and finds himself at a loss of words, another person who wouldn't hurt him for no reason, another precious person. He lowers his head and stares at the ground moving beneath his feet at a moderate pace, "I'm sorry," He says quietly.

"I don't blame you," his sensei responds at the same volume.

* * *

Am I the only one who finds the little bit at the end cute? No? Just me, well this is awkward.. No it will not turn into a KakaNaru fanfic (As much as I love them! Call me crazy but it's cute :D)

I actually have no parings in mind, well maybe a couple.

Congrats to you who hath made it to the end of the chapter (and halfway through the AN), I'll be quick.

I submitted a couple OCs to this person, realized how Awesome they are and am now writing a small backstory for them. It'll be a Soul Eater fanfic and I definitely recommend watching it if you haven't already. While you're at it check out Attack on Titan, good, nah baddass anime right there. :D

So, if I don't update this I'm either updating that or being a lazy ass. :)


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